To Save a Friend
by tamagoyakihime
Summary: Sasuke grew up hearing stories about his grandfather; Sasuke Uchiha. After an accident that resulted in the death of a loved one, part of him starts to believe that he was the one in those stories. That he was and is Sasuke Uchiha. Times are changing in Konoha and with plots to take the Hokage's life, will Sasuke keep his sanity or sacrifice it to save a friend?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my attempt at a multi chapter Naruto fan fiction. :') Hopefully you like it!**

 **I don't own Naruto!**

 **EDIT: *WARNING* After receiving a rather delightful anon review, I would like to clarify; this fic** **is based many, many years after cannon events (up and until chapter 699 of the manga. Be warned that the events of chapter 700 and beyond have been ignored in this fic). Many of the pairings that happened post ch 699 have not occurred in this fic and as a result there are OCs galore- none of them are given major roles and Sasuke and Naruto are still the main characters.**

 **If a Naruto universe that has been created by someone who has ignored cannon pairings is really not your thing, now is your time to leave. :)**

 **You have been warned!**

 **Those of you that haven't run away screaming or started sharpening pitchforks after reading the warming above, please enjoy my story! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

As soon as he regained consciousness, his mind started racing; he was sure he had just died being held in strong arms. And the children! Where were they? Trying to make sense the situation, he made a mental list of what he knew. He knew he had practically no visibility despite _knowing_ he was using his sharingan, he knew he had little to no chakara in his reserves, he knew he was being passed between what felt like giant hands and he knew that since there was no such thing as giants, it must be him that was very small….

He knew the smell of the person he had just been handed to; a strange but nice mix of ramen and summer. He knew who he was and he knew who the man holding him was. Most of all, he knew that arms smelling of ramen and summer were the only arms he would ever trust. He let himself slip back into unconsciousness like he had the last time these arms held him only staying awake to hear a familiar, husky voice murmur;

"Sasuke…."

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha was considered a genius in most circles in Konoha. After all, an Uchiha unlocking their Sharingan a few moments after birth was unheard of – even in their glory days…. The academy and jounin throughout the village would plead and beg his father to allow them to train him in the ninja arts. The man would always turn them away citing that the last Uchiha to be trained at such a young age had ended up killing his whole family sans his brother, joined one of the most notorious criminal organisations in history and met an untimely demise at the hands of the very brother he had spared.

It wasn't that his father disliked the village, he just disagreed with the ninja system in general. He had seen what it had done too many of his friends and family. Genius or not, none of his other children had been sent nor shown the inclination to go to the academy and if he had his way, neither would Sasuke.

Unfortunately for Sasuke's father, Sasuke tended to favour the company of the village's elders and the Hokage. As such, Sasuke grew up hearing stories about his grandfather – the original Sasuke Uchiha – and other great men and woman whom had given their lives for the village. Much to the man's chagrin, they had managed to get him to enrol Sasuke in the Academy after making promises not to let the boy advance to levels beyond his years.

Very few of his grandfather's generation were still alive; only Naruto-jiji and Sakura-chan. Sasuke had a few memories of Sakura's husband, Lee; what he could remember was that, when he was six, he went to sleep and never woke up again.

After he realised what that meant, Sasuke clung all the more to Naruto and Sakura. It was ironic really, considering who his name's sake was.

A seven year old Sasuke stood glaring at the two chuckling ANBU guards stationed outside the Hokage's office. They would normally have let him in but an important meeting was happening beyond the doors and they had strict instructions to not let anyone in.

After Lee-jiji died, Sasuke had been ever conscious of the fact that, despite the fact that Sakura-chan and Naruto-jiji looked not much older than his father, they had grown up with his grandfather. That meant they had to be at least 100 years old by now.

That was why when Sasuke noticed that Sakura-chan had been falling asleep more often, while he knew he was being irrational, he had raided his brother's secret stash of soldier pills to give to the woman so she wouldn't be like Lee-jiji.

Sasuke knew that it was important for his 'mission' that he gave them to her while she was away from home as all her grandchildren would want him to play with him and he would never get to see her that day.

Realising that he wasn't going to get past the ANBU, Sasuke decided he would go about completing his 'mission' the real ninja way. Mustering the strongest glare he could at the guards, he walked way in the direction of the stairs and climbed to the roof of the building.

Taking a deep breath, he clambered over the railing and crawled along the sloping roof to the edge. He scowled, they had barely started lessons on traveling through trees in the academy and Sasuke had at least three floors to go down to get to Naruto-jiji's office.

He made his way over to a drain pipe, stopping anytime the wind picked up and slowly slid himself down. Sasuke's confidence rose slightly as he felt he could tackle his second bit of roof on just two feet. He felt he was doing fairly well until he picked up his speed and slipped. Sasuke tumbled over the edge of the roof section and cried out upon impact with the segment below. He didn't have time to recover before he started rolling uncontrollably towards the next drop but at the last minute, he managed to twist and stop himself from completely going over the edge.

With only his precariously placed arms holding him up, Sasuke had never been so relieved in his whole life to hear the husky voice of the Hokage behind him.

"Sasuke? What the hell are you doing up there?"

It took most all his Uchiha pride not to sob in relief, "N-Naruto-jiji!"

"Heh heh, that's my name-dattebyo! You want help getting down?"

"No! I can do it myself!"

Sasuke turned his head to look at his would be saviour and widened his eyes in shock; stood next to Naruto-jiji were some of the clan leaders, the one grabbing Sasuke's attention being his own father, "F-Father?"

Whether it be from the shock or from shouting a little too loud, he would never know, but at that moment, Sasuke lost his grip on the tiles above him and with a yell, he started falling.

He felt his Sharingan activate as a response to the sudden, unexpected and very real danger and so, everything that transpired thereafter recorded permanently in his young mind in slow-motion. First to move was Naruto-jiji but a flash of pink flew out from behind the man and caught the boy before crashing through one of the office's windows.

Next came the blood- it was everywhere – on Sakura, on his hands, on Naruto as he pulled him from the elder woman's prone form, on the medics as they rushed her out; her green eyes wide open, searching for him, and through it all was unyielding, oppressive black- the black of his father's eyes calmly observing it all. Then gold and blue were before him.

As suddenly as they appeared, all the colours faded away to black- a black accompanied by the smell of ramen, summer and blood. Sasuke lost conciousness.

* * *

 **And that's the first chapter done! :D**

 **I thought it would be best to end the chapter there... There's a lot of questions to be answered and most of them will be in later chapters. :P**

 **Please review? *.***


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Naruto :3**

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

Sasuke woke up in a strange bed. After a couple of moment's confusion, he figured out what had happened. He had lost his grip, fallen and gotten himself and Sakura-chan hurt. Naruto-jiji must have taken him to the hospital and told his mother what had happened.

He looked around to find a snoozing nanadaime Hokage in the seat next to his bed. The man sat back with his nose to the air and was quietly snoring.

 _Dobe…_

Sasuke's eyebrows creased, he would never call Naruto-jiji that… it just seemed disrespectful- well more disrespectful than 'Naruto-jiji', anyway. The more he thought about it though, the word, 'Dobe' seemed more and more fitting of the blonde man beside him. With this realisation came an increasing urge to call him by it; it would be like a nickname, his more rebellious side of him argued and won. After swallowing and taking a deep breath, Sasuke spoke, his sore ribs causing his voice to crack a bit, "Dobe, wake up!"

The Hokage shot up the moment the first word left Sasuke's mouth, "Sasuke!" he called looking around frantically.

Though he lay before him, Sasuke couldn't help but get the feeling it was not him the man was calling for, though part of him yearned to snort at the man's reaction. "Dobe." He said again.

Naruto turned surprised to see his best friend's grandson- the boy who looked exactly like his name's sake did when he was that age, the boy who had just sounded so much like _him_ Naruto had thought that the past seventy years had been just a long, long dream and looked at him as though he was seeing him for the first time.

"W-what did you just call me?"

 _Dobe_

"Dobe!" Sasuke searched the elder's face for any signs of approval, suddenly scared that it would adopt an expression not unlike his father's when Sasuke was in the same room as him.

Instead, a slow smile spread over Naruto's face, "You little brat! You're becoming more and more like your grandfather with each passing day-dattebyo!"

The boy found himself smiling in reply. Anyone else would have thought comparing the boy to the notorious rogue of the Hokage's generation an insult but to Naruto, it was a praise he would not give lightly.

"Your mum said she'd be back to check on you in about an hour or so…. You want me to tell you a story?"

Sasuke tried not to let himself sound over eager, "Hn."

Naruto chuckled, "OK, you asked for it; here's the story about the great Sasuke Uchiha, the stunningly beautiful Sakura Haruno (that was her name at the time) and Konoha's most unpredictable ninja, Naruto Uzumaki's first, accidental, A-class mission! It all started with the Daiyamo's wife's cat-dattebyo…."

Sasuke closed his eyes and imagined he was the Sasuke from the story- something he had always found easy to do with stories that included his grandfather. When Naurto-jiji got to Sasuke's favourite part of the story; the part where Sasuke and Naruto saved their teacher from the infamous missing-nin, Zabuza, he could clearly see in his mind the water prison though he had never seen the jutsu, he could feel the weight of the giant shurikan in his hand, despite never having held one before….

His mind has this ability to fill in the blanks in the stories about the Hokage's rival and best friend and even went as far as to supply him with alternative views of how the stories went, where Sakura was not as much a great kunoichi, where Naruto was the class clown and where his name's sake, Sasuke Uchiha, was not quite as noble as the Hokage made them all out to be.

Despite all this - or perhaps because of it, it was all so clear and vivid and familiar, it was almost like instead of a story young Sasuke had heard a thousand times over it was more like… a memory.

When his mother, a nurse at the hospital came in, it took Sasuke a moment to move his eyes from the story teller in the room. She smiled as her son impatiently asked the Hokage to continue his story and missed the silent conversation going on over his head between the two adults in the room. Not wanting to worry her son, she merely shook her head and signalled that they would talk later.

"Mother! Stop it, I'm fine!" Sasuke groaned as the dark haired woman fussed over him again.

"A broken wrist is hardly fine, dear. I don't know how you managed to avoid worse injury…. Hokage-sama-"

"I keep on telling you, Ame-chan, call me Naruto. We're practically family-dattebyo!"

The nurse smiled and shook her head, "-Could I ask you to watch Sasuke for the rest of my shift?"

"Mother," Sasuke interrupted in a small voice, looking around, "Where's father?"

Ame smiled sadly at her son, "Your father is very busy, dear… but you know, he was really worried about you. How about I cook a big dinner tonight and we'll invite all your brothers and sisters and I'll make sure your father comes too."

"Will Naruto-jiji come too?"

The two Uchiha looked over to the Hokage, their eyebrows quirked in question. Naruto chuckled, it would seem that Uchiha mannerisms are naturally acquired upon obtaining the surname, be it by marriage or birth. Seeing as the mother-son pair were still waiting for a reply, Naruto smiled his biggest smile and said, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

 _Dobe…._

* * *

The next couple of hours involved looking over paperwork- though he was getting to spend time with Naruto-jiji, the man was still the Hokage and couldn't get out of his obligations. Eventually, the blonde Hokage gave up and sighed while running his hand through his hair before turning to look at Sasuke. The pair stared at each other for a couple of moments before smiling.

"Come, I'll teach you how to move across the rooftops of Konoha without giving every adult in it a heart attack!"

 _Dobe…._

"Hn, Dobe…."

"Brat."

Naruto gestured for Sasuke to follow him out an unbroken window and onto the roof outside. After a slight hesitation, the boy joined him and waited for the Hokage to speak again. He didn't notice that standing on the uneven, high-up surface had come to him as naturally as if he had been doing it in years.

"We'll take the rooftops to your house. We should be there in time for the big family dinner! I wonder if Ame-chan has cooked up some ramen…" Naruto trailed off and looked down at the child beside him; the boy's feet were placed well and his legs were sturdy despite the drama of the morning, despite this, he was awfully pale.

Sasuke was too busy trying not to gulp as he looked in the direction of his home to reply to the man. He took a deep breath before looking up at his elder and nodded. A Cheshire cat grin that had become infamously associated with the Hokage greeted him. Sasuke felt a calm come over him from some unknown place in the back of his mind. He felt a small blush spread across his face as he took the hand Naruto he offered.

The two took a couple of steps back before running and leaping off the edge of the roof onto an electric wire before sprinting off in the direction of their dinner.

* * *

They were met at the door by Itachi Uchiha's disapproving face.

 _Father…._

"Father." The boy greeted.

The raven hared man looked down at his youngest child and frowned as he noticed the new bruises that adorned the boy's uncast arm, his legs and face. It would seem that the reports he had heard about his son and the village leader clambering over the rooftops of Konoha had been true. Noticing his company, he refrained from scolding his youngest and instead greeted the man at his door with a nod.

"Hokage-sama."

"Now, come on 'Tachi-chan, why don't you call me Naruto-ji like the good old days-dattebyo?"

"I doubt it would be appropriate for Konoha's chief of police to refer to the Hokage as 'Naruto-ji', Hokage-sama." Itachi shot back.

Naruto muttered something about the man before him not being cute anymore, "I hear Ame-chan is cooking us all up a feast tonight, do you need help setting the table?"

"It is quite alright, Hokage-sama, setting the table is Sasuke's job.

"Even better," said Naruto jovially, "Come on, Sasuke, we'll do it together! After all, they do say that two pairs of hands can set a table faster than one-dattebyo!"

Naruto winked at the boy when he opened his mouth to protest and made his way to the kitchen, deciding that the room would be easier to set up and clear away. There was also the added bonus of the room not being anywhere near as stifling as the formal dining room.

Sasuke padded in after him and went over to hug his mother, he watched with a small smile before coming over to fetch the cutlery.

"Ok, Sasuke! Let's get this table set; I've been looking into domestic jutsu and I think-"

"There will be no jutsu performed in my kitchen, domestic or not, if I can help it Hokage-sama" Sasuke's mother smiled, brandishing a wooden spatula in her hand threateningly.

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. For just a moment, he was replaced with the image of a much younger version of himself in Sasuke's vision. Blinking the image away, Sasuke started getting stuck into setting the table while Naruto joked around with Ame Uchiha.

* * *

Once they had set places for the whole family, Sasuke smiled happily. While he had no uncles or aunts, he had two brothers and a sister he rarely got to see as they had moved out of the house years ago- his eldest brother had even got married the year before and his wife was now expecting. As they had never attended the ninja academy, they had little to talk to him about but they were always more willing to listen to his training stories than his father.

His mother told the duo to take their places and went through to tell the rest of the family to come through. Itachi frowned at the fact that Naruto was not sat at the place of honour1 but said nothing. The rest of the family sat in their appropriate places at the table when he motioned for them to take their seats.

The beeping of the rice cooker broke the silence that had settled upon them and as Ame went over to start serving the food, Sasuke's eldest brother, Akihiro, smiled and said, "Well, it has been quite some time since we have all sat down together at the table like this! How have you all been?"

Conversation started, Sasuke sat back and watched Naruto carefully. Seeing him in this family setting somehow suddenly felt out of place… In fact, he himself was starting to feel uncomfortable with all the company which was strange because family was one of his favourite things.

 _Until Itachi…._

Chasing the strange thoughts away, Sasuke chuckled at the Hokage singing praises to his mother as she brought him a bowl of ramen like he had hoped for. He was about to comment on how ridiculous the scenario was when he noticed his father frowning at him from across the table.

 _Who is_ _ **he**_ _to look at me like that? I am Sasuke Uchiha-_

Eyebrows furrowed, he did his best to ignore the agitated thoughts seemingly popping up from nowhere. Why had he thought that? The man was still his father, frown or not, and as still needed to be given respect….

But why was his father frowning at him? He found the answer to his question once he tuned back into the conversation Naruto was having with Akihiro.

"-And, the other day, when I was visiting the academy, I saw his shuriken practice. All he needed was a little direction before he started throwing like a natural-dattebyo! And! And, just before! You wanna know how we got here? We took a rooftop route! Never have I seen someone so young-"

"Hokage-sama, with the greatest respect," Itachi started, "You know well my thoughts on the Ninja arts. They have been a curse to this clan and, quite frankly a curse to the world. I take no pride in partaking in them in my youth and have raised most of my children accordingly. Sasuke still hasn't been disciplined for what happened this morning and yet you lavish him with praise?"

Before Naruto could reply, Sasuke's second brother intervened, "Father, Naruto-sama, how are the preparations for this year's chunin exams? I hear that strains between the daiyamo of Rain country and Sand country have increased since last year…."

 _Does that idiot not know that politics are not a dinner topic or am I completely surrounded-_

Sasuke groaned and stopped himself again. These rogue thoughts were taking more and more presence in his mind and he couldn't understand why.

Fortunately, at that point, dinner was interrupted by the sudden appearance of one of the hokage's personal ANBU.

"Sir! Your presence is required at the hospital!"

"Saukra!" Naruto stood up quickly, "What's happened?"

"I'll explain along the way!"

As the two ninja left the room as abruptly as the ANBU had come, Sasuke couldn't help but get the feeling that everything was going to go terribly wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! Here's chapter 3!**

 ***Warning* there is character death in this chapter (well, the aftermath of a death and mentions of previous deaths) and hints of dark themes such as rape/torture and suicide. Nothing is explicitly said but they are heavily implied. If these things offend you or you are sensitive to these topics, I would advise you to continue no further in reading this fic (there's a lot more to come).**

 **Also, drunken Naruto is angsty.**

 **I suppose here is where I would deal with any guest reviews... but there was only one... and it was a flame... I addressed it in my A/N at the beginning of the first chapter. I'm not going to delete it- it amuses me to look at. XD**

 **Also, I realised that all my beautiful formatting from word disappeared in the first two chapters. TT_TT I'll go back and fix it later. :)**

 **I don't own Naruto! :')**

 **Enjoy! (and please review)**

* * *

Chapter 3

Sasuke stood at Sakura Rock's grave the longest, longer than the Hokage, longer than her own family, even. No one had blamed him for her death; it had been a freak accident, they said, Sasuke could never had known what would happen. It just made him feel all the worse- he knew it was his fault.

It seemed that only Sasuke blamed himself.

He spent time walking around the rest of the graveyard, some names, names he had never heard of before, more familiar than they should be. He couldn't face going home, going home would mean he would have to listen to his father telling him that the Ninja way was evil. Sasuke sighed, it hadn't been the ninja way that killed the village elder, it had been a little boy.

Instead, he started towards the arms of summer and ramen- the only place he knew he would be able to find some comfort- Naruto's house.

 _Sakura…thank you… for everything…_

It was no surprise to find the Hokage's door wide open; the smell and sobbing coming from inside the house was an indicator that its owner had been drinking. The boy cautiously entered, shut the front door quietly behind him and removed his shoes. He peered through the kitchen archway to see a desolate looking man swigging a sake bottle and looking at what appeared to be albums. The boy cursed as he forgot the squeaky floorboard, drawing Naruto's attention

"Heeeeey! Shasuke! Come here, m'boy!" Naruto hiccupped and attempted to smile though his heart wasn't in it.

Sasuke went to stand next to him but didn't put up too much of a struggle when the far stronger man lifted him up and placed him on the seat next to his at the wooden table. The older man pointed to his photo album.

"This here's your Granddad Shasuke, he's holding your Da'! God, you look like him, all pretty like the bastard he was. Y'know, he had this glare- that's the one-dattebayo!" he said excitedly as Sasuke turned to give the drunkard his family's signature glare.

"I've said it once, an' I'll say it a thousand times more, Shasuke, but your Granda' was a hero-dattebayo! He died after rescuing your father from- from hundreds of Kiri-nin-dattebayo!"

 _Dobe…. There couldn't have been more than 20…._

"And this young lady next to him is Sakura-chan!" the man frowned, "And the god-like being to her right is me-dattebayo!"

Sasuke snorted. He pointed to an older man with grey hair, "Who's that?"

 _Kakashi…._

This time it was Naruto's turn to snort, "Come on, brat! Y'see that mask every day on Hokage Mountain-dattebayo!"

Sasuke huffed.

 _Says the one that didn't realise he looked almost exactly like one of the photos hanging in the Hokage's office…._

Sasuke blinked; why would he think that?

When Naruto turned the next page, his playful smile fell and he took another swig of sake.

"Tha' there, is Yuuki Uzumaki, my daughter and her genin team. I was tempted to apply to be her jounin sensei but your bastard of a grandfather got there first. Didn't trust me to teach his god-daughter properly, I suppose." He sniffed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeves, "I shouldn't say that, he taught her to be badass."

 _You're right. I wouldn't trust you…. You're the type to think that a toad is a good babysitter…_

"Sasuke wasn't the only one I lost that day…."

Sasuke sat, bolt upright. What did he mean? What had happened that Naruto lost both his best friend and his daugh-

 ** _Sasuke stood, panting and clutching the bundle to his chest with his good arm. The kiri-nin before him stood across the clearing with a kunai at the throat of a young woman with black hair and ice blue eyes. He tried reassuring the girl with his eyes but she couldn't stop the tears leaking from her eyes. The kiri-nin spoke just one, terrible word;_**

 ** _"Choose."_**

Sasuke balked. What had he just seen in his mind? It had seemed so real….

"She was beautiful, my girl. And so, so very brave. But she never thought before she acted. That night-" Naruto swallowed, "The night we got news of Sasuke's son being kidnapped she somehow caught wind of it. I- I taught her Hiraishin-no-jutsu as a gift for making jounin. She loved your father, Itachi, from the moment she held him in her arms and so she placed a marker on him."

 ** _The girls's eyes softened as the precious bundle started to wriggle, "Save Itachi!" she yelled as the veins around her eyes strained. Not able to leave her behind, Sasuke gripped the sword in his other hand and ran to her, in a futile attempt to save them all. He hadn't made it halfway there before he felt a piercing pain through his torso._**

 ** _Thankfully, the blade had missed the child in his arms and it was all Sasuke could do in his dying moments was to keep holding him until arms the smell of summer and ramen came and held him as all faded to black._**

Sasuke stared, wide eyed at the man next to him, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry. What was happening to him? What had happened to-

"What happened to the girl?" He found himself asking.

The elder man suddenly looked very tired he took another couple of gulps of sake. Sasuke shifted so he was sitting on the table, facing Naruto but it seemed the man couldn't see him anymore and was looking at someone else.

"I found her on the ground, Sasuke. I found her there after you died. All broken, her lovely blue eyes just staring at the sky. They had done things to her, things that should never be done to any man nor woman's daughter and left her there for me to find. My beautiful, beautiful daughter. My little dove…."

Blonde hair covered the man's eyes as they leaked tears. Sasuke didn't quite understand what had happened but he felt that he was somehow responsible for what had happened- just like how he felt responsible for what had happened to Sakura.

"Oh, I made Kiri pay. I never understood how revenge could become an obsession until it took me just like it did you, Sasuke. Oh, and I made them pay good-dattebayo. A lot of good it did me too. Hinata, remember her? She didn't take Yuuki's death any better than I did but with me on a rampage, a dead daughter and someone else's baby to look after, her grief channelled into something else."

Naruto looked up. He didn't see a little boy sitting in front of him anymore, just his long gone, best friend, Sasuke. He smiled wistfully at the vision.

"Hey, Bastard, did ya know that people can die from sadness? 'Cause my Hinata did." The man suddenly looked his age despite his middle aged features.

Sasuke felt an ache in his heart for the man before him something terribly, terribly wrong had happened- that much he was sure of. He had seen the images, memories that suggested something awful to come and while he had never seen them before, they seemed so familiar, so right, that he didn't doubt them.

"And now Sakura-chan has left. I had hoped… I had hoped that her seal…. Remember, Sasuke, when you told me that the Uchiha are cursed to love? I think the Uzumaki are cursed to love too… just in a different way."

And that caught Sasuke's attention; echoes and flashes of other images came from the same, deep place _those_ thoughts came from. Showing him a night not unlike this with a younger Naruto.

 ** _Sasuke sighed, glancing at the man sat next to him on the roof of his house, "Wouldn't understand… Curse of hatred…. Naruto…."_**

"What do you mean?" he asked both himself and the Hokage, his childish voice rung through the house.

It was as if a spell over the room shattered. Naruto suddenly remembered who he was with, "Nothing, Sasuke- _chan_ ~! Just an old man's ramblings-dattebayo. Now, we must let your father know where you are-"

"I'll help with paperwork. Just don't make me go back there…." Sasuke pleaded, knowing he would get nothing more out of the old man by pestering him.

"And how will you help me with the paperwork, Brat?

"Hn. I'll make ramen."

"Deal." Naruto, seemingly now sober, "What do you want me to tell your father? I don't think he believed the 'we caught the plague and had to be quarantined' excuse we used last time you stayed over…."

"That was your idea, Dobe."

"Hey, brat, don't bite the hands that save you."

"It's feed, not save."

"Whatever, just remember who's Hokage in this room."

"Hn. Drunken idiot."

"You little Bastard!" Naruto leapt up and started tickling the youngster.

Sasuke bit his lip, trying to stop the squeals that threatened to leave his lips; this was the Naruto-jiji he knew and he would do everything he could to keep him happy.

 _ **If you want me to explain it I'm not really sure how to put it.. It's just that when I hear you blabbering about carrying everything on your shoulders.. I can kinda.. feel the pain too.**_

* * *

 **Okay so Naruto was a little bit OOC in this chapter... I blame it on the alcohol... ¬¬**

 **I know that the idea of Naruto loosing it and taking it out on an entire village is a little bit far fetched but Naruto has almost lost himself to hatred before (think when he was fighting Pein). The only times Naruto seems to get really, really mad to the point of wanting to kill people seems to be when he thinks (or has) lost a loved one. It is usually another person or big shock that'll snap him out of this. With loosing both his best friend (who Naruto spent so much energy trying to keep) and his daughter, his wife falling into depression and a random baby to look after, I don't think it is too hard to imagine he would find it hard to cope...**

 **Feel free to disagree but for the purposes of this fic, Naruto had a full blown momentary loss of sanity- the kind that pre ch699 Sasuke would be proud of. :')**

 **The events behind Sasuke, Hinata and Yuuki's deaths are really important to how many of the OCs see the world *cough* Itachi the second *cough*. Idk if I'll ever go into why he is the way he is but be assured, there is a lot of angst and tragedy involved! :O Be aware, the man is not evil! He's just trying to do what's best for his family- sorta like Fugaku...**

 **Anyhoo! Thanks for reading! :3**

 **Please review! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**So here's chapter 4!**

 **I'm moving back to uni tomorrow, so the next chapter will prob be postponed 'till Monday... Sorry, but I need to get organised for my 3rd year whilst getting to know 10 completely new people. :')**

 **Responses to guest reviews:**

 **Yet again, another flame review! This time the anon has been able to spell everything correctly AND use correct punctuation. This person has obviously went back to check over what they had written to make sure they had told me to kill myself in perfect English; and for that, I respect them. :)**

 **What I don't respect is the fact that they seemingly don't actually know how to review something. You believe my story is awful to the point where, not only am I a loser, but should kill myself for it... Please back up any and all strong opinions like these with evidence or they will be seen as baseless and dismissed (and you wouldn't want your flaming to be dismissed, would you?;))**

 **Now, I like to think the best of everyone and so will assume that the anon just wants to hurt my feelings, not be the reason behind someone's death. :)**

 **For the sake of argument though, lets say they actually wanted me to carry out their order. What makes you think that calling me a looser and saying my fic is awful, will actually work?**

 **Mofo, if you want me to believe there is good reason to kill myself, I want a friggen essay with references. I want every 't' crossed and 'i' dotted. I want evidence of the pure, unprecedented destruction that each chapter of this story has caused the world and the surveys and the statistics to back it up. I want this thing published in friggen Nature (the world's most cited scientific journal)** **.**

 **Then, and only then will anon flame reviews cause me to feel anything other than the deep amusement I feel, even as I write this now; I will feel guilt that I hurt so many people. I may even stop writing (for a day).**

 **I still won't kill myself and that, dearest anon, makes you the loser in all this- because you failed and the evil Tamagoyakihime will still be running free! :D**

 **I await the day your paper about how awful I am features in Nature. Until then, you and your beautiful flaming anon friends' requests and comments shall be ignored forthwith (I understand that, for the sake of man kind, you need to continue your quest to get me to kill myself but I have an awful story to write and you have a study to conduct so I won't egg you on!). :P**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Tamagoyakihime**

 **...**

 **Anyhoo, those of you that don't wish for my death or make unfounded, negative comments about my person or my writing are more than welcome to review! :D**

 **I don't own Naruto. If I did it would be 'awful' :')**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4

Footsteps echoed throughout the hallway outside the Hokage's office as a twelve year old Sasuke jogged to see Naruto. He hated this part of himself, the part that had learned to crave the Idiot's praise.

He didn't knock and just walked into the office- Naruto was expecting him anyway. He marched right up to the desk and placed his shiny, new head guard on top of the paperwork for Naruto to see. He watched the man's reaction with a proud smirk on his face.

Naruto looked up at him and grinned, "So you passed, eh?"

Sasuke felt butterflies in his stomach when he saw the smile, "Hn. I got a perfect score."

"You little bastard!" Naruto said affectionately, "Well, this is a cause for celebration! To Ichiraku's!"

Sasuke allowed his smirk to grow until it was not-a-smirk but not-a-smile. Celebratory ramen was one thing about the Hokage that would never change.

 ** _"Hey, guys! Let's go get some ramen!" a boy not much older than Sasuke-_**

-Sasuke blocked the images rushing through his head. He had grown adept at supressing the part of his mind that went rogue sometimes over the years. He followed after Naruto, not having to think too much about getting to their destination.

The pair didn't even need to order when they got to Ichiraku's, they just sat down and a couple of minutes later, their usual orders were placed before them. Naruto set about inhaling his ramen and ordering another before he spoke.

"What are you going to do about Itachi?"

 ** _The man's face was cracked and the whites of his eyes black. He started to make his way-_**

"Hn."

"How many times do I have to tell you that 'Hn' isn't an answer dattebayo…. You haven't thought about it, have you? You do realise you need to have a guardian's signature on your registration form?"

Sasuke cursed, _he hadn't had to worry about that the first time around-_ there was no way his 'father' would allow him to become a genin. He glared at the man next to him.

"You sign it."

Naruto nearly choked on his ramen, "Kid, as much as I think you would make an awesome ninja, I can't sign for you, it's the law-dattebayo."

"Then change the law."

Naruto actually started choking this time but was rescued by the last man on earth that Sasuke wanted to see at that very moment.

"Thanks, 'Tachi-chan." Naruto wheezed.

"Hn. I hear Sasuke passed top of his class, I expected nothing less from you, son." The man said carefully.

 ** _"No matter what you decide to do from now on… I'll love you forev-"_**

Sasuke stared silently at his ramen and only replied after Naruto dug him in the ribs, "Thank you, Father."

"I expect that you have satiated your appetite for such debasing arts." Itachi stated casually.

Sasuke's hands started sweating and he cursed under his breath, when he became more emotional, the images became more persistent. Was he at Ichiraku's or in a traditional style building? Which face was the face of his father? They were both stern and equally disappointed looking…. Was Naruto middle aged looking or was he in his teens?

Before Naruto could nudge him again, Sasuke's father spoke bringing him back to reality, "Speak, boy. Or am I to believe you have become simple?"

"Now, now, Itachi. There is no need to speak to Sasuke like that. I'm sure he was just worrying that his food was getting cold-dattebayo."

Ever since he could remember, the Hokage and his father had never gotten on particularly well. The animosity between them was infamous throughout the village though no one really knew what had happened. What made it especially strange was the fact that Naruto had raised the other from infancy after Itachi's own father had died and they had been very close at one point.

"Hn. Please do not defend him, Hokage-sama. With the greatest respect, I do hold you accountable for putting all these ideas in his head."

"Care to explain?" Naruto narrowed his eyes, he had been playing the Hokage game long enough to know that anything beginning with 'due' or 'great' respect was generally an insult to intelligence.

"What I mean, Hokage-sama, is that since he was an infant, his head has been filled with nonsensical stories about so-called 'great ninja'. The boy thinks he's in for a world of glory by joining the ninja ranks when all the ninja world is is a world of pain and death."

"That's not true! I'll be the first to admit that the ninja system is far from perfect but you cannot deny that the ninja world has produced some good-"

"Good men? You mean like Sasuke Uchiha? The man who betrayed you and the village, tried to kill you several times, killed his teacher," The Uchiha ignored Naruto's protests and didn't notice that his son had tensed when Sasuke's misgivings came up, "Killed his brother, joined an organisation hell bent on not only killing you but killing everyone, vowed to destroy the village, attacked the world's leaders as they held a conference on how to save the world – need I go on?"

Naruto closed his eyes, his patience wearing thin, "Sasuke Uchiha was a hero. A little misguided at times, but a hero- and your father, nonetheless. You would do well to remember that, _Uchiha_ -san."

Itachi flinched at the stress Naruto put on his name. Emboldened by his previous rant he started again, "Don't you dare talk to me as if you are above me, you liar, you- you murderer. Do not think I don't know the things you have done in your life you monst-"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Sasuke slammed his hands on the counter of the ramen stand. If anyone… if anyone….

 _If anyone's a monster it's me…._

The two men looked at Sasuke in shock.

"Father, apologise to the Hokage, you have spoken out of term." Sasuke said with authority; this man may be his father, _but he was also his son and so it was his responsibility to chastise him._

Itachi backhanded Sasuke across the face, "You dare talk to me in that manner again."

He went to slap Sasuke again but Naruto caught his hand, "I didn't raise you to be this way, Itachi."

"After taking so much time to reiterate the fact that you were not my father before my majority, I do not believe you have the right to chastise me as a man. The boy may do as he wishes. He is no longer welcome in my house. I would not have such an insubordinate child to tarnish my grandchildren."

Itachi stalked off, "Thank you." Naruto said quietly, not looking at the boy next to him.

"Hn."

"So I guess you're needing somewhere to live…."

"Hn."

"Well I was going to offer you my spare room but seeing as you only seem to be capable of grunting at me, I am unable to tell if you want it or not…."

"I'll take it."

* * *

The way Naruto treated his home was reminiscent to how Sasuke had treated his childhood home in the Uchiha district. Family photos littered the house the way Sasuke's family crest had been emblazed everywhere, though the photos were placed in a much more haphazard manner. There were certain rooms that, though they were not locked, guests were respectfully asked not to enter, though for different reasons than Naruto's rooms.

When he was younger these rooms in the Hokage's house were a great mystery to him but now, though he couldn't fathom why, he felt like he understood why Naruto left them undisturbed.

Another stark similarity between the two houses was the quiet. It was hard to believe that any house belonging a man notorious for his noise making could be quiet, but this one was. Sasuke found himself unconsciously making up for the lack of noise; he didn't bother to silence his footsteps, he clattered about in the kitchen and sought out his housemate anytime they were in the building together. In his old house, such behaviour would have been frowned upon but the blonde man seemed almost grateful for it.

Sasuke was placed on a team with a distant cousin of his from his mother's side, Momo Haruno and a boy from the Nara clan, Shigi Nara. Their Jounin sensei was a stern woman from the Hyuuga clan, Shiroko Hyuuga- appointed as there were no Sharingan users willing to teach him and his predecessors had been rather secretive.

Sasuke grew to like his team and his new home and, despite wondering sometimes if he was going mad with his _other_ voice in his head, life was good.

That was, until he found Naruto laying on their kitchen floor, chocking in his own blood.

* * *

 **And she is done!**

 **So... were you expecting that ending? :P Of course you were- it's in the summary! XD**

 **Itachi the second is really quite mean but he will redeem himself (sort of) later on. :/**

 **OH MY GOSH THE HORROR OF NEW OCs! D: OTL**

 **Nah, they'll get like, a couple of lines in upcoming chapters and that's it. :')**

 **I hope you liked this chapter! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Woo! Chapter 5 is here!**

 **Thanks to all those who have followed and faved this story! :D**

 **Enjoy! :P**

* * *

Chapter 5

The present Team 7 was a respectable team; all of its members had a good balance of brains and brawn. They tended to take short term infiltration missions, now that the three younger members had matured a bit which was why, when Naruto didn't find Sasuke waiting for him with dinner made, he wasn't surprised and rummaged through the cupboards to find his cup ramen.

He also wasn't surprised to hear the front door open and close, followed by some shuffling a couple of nights later. Standing up, Naruto stretched and called out to the boy, asking if he wanted him to run him a bath.

He was surprised when he got no reply. Sasuke wasn't the most talkative of people but he wouldn't not reply to a direct question. Shrugging, Naruto made his way towards the hall, perhaps he hadn't heard Sasuke's reply. No sooner than he had rounded the corner, a loud chirping noise filled the room and Naruto narrowly avoided being hit by a chidori enhanced fist in the face.

Mind reeling and right arm hanging limply to his side, he retreated to the kitchen taking note that he was bleeding profusely, which was strange as chidori tended to cauterise any wounds made by it. He looked down to see a slash across his stomach. He had been so shocked by seeing _that_ jutsu that he hadn't been able to defend himself properly and hadn't noticed a gaping wound. More importantly, Naruto knew of only 4 people who could use chidori, three of them were dead and the last, the last one wouldn't have used it to try to kill him, would they?

His assailant entered the room and the world around the Hokage stopped.

"I-it's you… W-why-"

He didn't get the chance to finish what he was going to say before he saw the beginnings of a lightning infused rasengan. He didn't move to defend himself against the attack and was thrown back against the wall.

The blow didn't kill him but the blood he could feel rising in his throat probably would. That didn't matter, all that mattered was the other person in the room, black hair shrouding cold eyes, the figure stood still for a moment before disappearing, Naruto would almost believe he had been imagining that they had come to his house, were it not for the red substance leaking from him.

A tear leaked from one of his eyes as he struggled to breathe.

* * *

Sasuke didn't bother telling Naruto that he was leaving and he didn't bother telling him when he was coming back. He knew that the elder man had a habit of staying up later at night while he was away and that was why he was surprised by the lack of greeting when he entered the house and the fact that only the hall lights were on.

He was even more surprised by the blood splattered about the hall; taking a shaky breath, he dipped his fingers into one of the pools and noted that the blood was still somewhat warm, whatever had happened, had happened shortly before he had arrived.

Ignoring the flashing images in his head of familiar-but-not-familiar streets covered in blood, he activated his sharingan and made his way to the kitchen, where the blood trail seemed to lead.

The teenager ignored protocol and groped around for the light and recoiled for a moment- **_when he saw a young man in ANBU uniform standing over the lifeless bodies of his-_** at the sight of the old man slumped over, his blood covering a wide area of the kitchen floor.

Sasuke rushed over to the blonde haired man, not caring about getting his clothes dirty and scanned him for any signs of life. The relief he felt when his sharingan picked up the smallest of movements of the Hokage's chest and set about doing what he could with what little first aid he could remember.

Breathing shakily, he cursed his tremoring hands as he made the hand signs to make a clone and with it, pulled the larger body into a position he could work with. It would appear that the assailant had used either fire or lightning element attacks as the majority of wounds had cauterised. Knowing that there was not much he could do about those wounds, he sent his clone to get help and turned his attention to the gaping, bleeding gash just below the mess of charred skin on Naruto's upper torso. It registered in the back of Sasuke's mind that the wound would have been caused by a sharp, long blade, perhaps a sword but he dismissed that thought straight away.

Instead focusing on trying to stop the bleeding, Sasuke ripped his shirt off and pressed it down on the injury. For a moment, Sasuke was satisfied that the flow of blood coming from beneath his hands was slowing but then he noticed that the small movement that had signified Naruto's breathing had stopped, presumably because the man just hadn't had the energy to push against Sasuke's hands in order to breathe.

He quickly pulled away from the man before him but Naruto still didn't breathe. Mind blank, Sasuke slowly raised his hands, soaked in Naruto's blood, before his face. Suddenly, his vision had a new level of clarity, but this now increased amount of visual information was only adding to the turmoil in Sasuke's head.

He had killed Naruto, the blood on his hands might as well have been drawn by him for all the good his 'first aid' had done. The teen was so lost in his thoughts that he barely registered being shoved out of the way- whoever it had been probably thought it had been Sasuke that had killed the Hokage, he couldn't bring himself to protest, after all, he had killed-

 ** _"…The closest thing to a best friend I've ever had."_**

-the closest thing to a best friend he had ever had.

The loss was too great, when his father had all but disowned him, it had not felt this bad, at least he hadn't been alone and he had been able to see his siblings when they had come to his house to 'visit the Hokage'. But this, Naruto was dead, _he_ had been the cause-

 _-but I wasn't the cause. If he hadn't been injured in the first place, none of this would have happened._

Sasuke started to calm down, he could see the logic in the thoughts emerging in his head.

 _Besides, the Dobe would never let a random assassin do this to him and look at his wounds…. It was someone he knew, someone he would let close enough to allow him to hit him with chidori and rasengan; someone from the village!_

"Sasuke."

Sasuke caught himself staring at his reflection on the kitchen window, his sharingan had taken on a new pattern.

 _Mangekyou sharingan. With this, I could set the village alight; I could avenge Naruto's death by killing the very people who betrayed him, just like they betrayed Itachi-_

Sasuke frowned when a muddled image of his middle aged father and a young face he was sure he had never seen before popped up when he thought of 'Itachi'.

"Sasuke."

 _I only forgave them for Naruto's sake, the ungrateful bastards. Now they all sit in comfort while my best friend lays in his own cooling blood-_

"SASUKE!"

He was brought out of his thoughts by a sharp pain across his jaw, he had been punched, it would seem.

"Deactivate those cursed eyes now, boy, if you don't want to be accused of treason!" a harsh voice before him sounded.

Sasuke felt dizzy once he lowered the chakara flow to his eyes to a trickle. He focused on the face of the man before him and balked slightly at the intensity of his father's dark eyes. He struggled when the man clasped both sides of his face, "Stop acting like a child and focus!"

Sasuke's breathing steadied out and he nodded.

"A shadow clone has been sent to the Rocks' house, one of them should be here soon. Fetch clean sheets, Boy, and be quick about it."

As Sasuke rushed through the kitchen door into the hall, nearly slipping on the blood beneath is feet, the tell-tale pink hair of one of Sakura's grandchildren came running through the front door and brushed past the teenager. Sasuke clambered up the stairs as fast as he could and made it to the linen cupboard. Not caring which sheets he took, he grabbed a couple and made his way back to the fallen Hokage.

"He's breathing, but only just…." The medic sighed, "We need to get him to the hospital as soon as we can, he won't hold up like this much longer."

Green eyes surveyed the two Uchiha before turning back to the Hokage, "One of you two will have to carry him, I need to have both hands to tend to him on the way…"

Before Sasuke had the chance to say anything, Itachi stepped forward and made to scoop up the blonde haired man.

"I think it would be best if young Sasuke were to carry the Hokage, Uchiha-sama. You have not been on duty for many years now and-"

"-Do you think I would let myself get to the state where I would not carry someone below my own body weight?" Itachi snarled at the younger man.

The Rock shifted into a defensive stance between the Hokage and the Uchiha patriarch, a glinting senbon making an appearance in his right hand. He motioned to the charred wound he had just been tending to, and said pointedly, "This wound was caused by Chidori."

"I see. Boy, you shall carry the Hokage, you would do well not to drop him."

Sasuke nodded numbly- there was still a chance, a chance that he could save his best friend! He pushed past _the man_ -his father and knelt down, gingerly picking up _his best frie_ -the Hokage. Making sure that the man in his arms was stable, Sasuke nodded to the medic and started their journey to the hospital.

 ** _"But… but… why..? Why me? I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP!"_**

 _ **"I don't know… My body just moved on its own… Idiot…"**_

* * *

 **Chapter 5 done! :3**

 **Sasuke is obviously having a bit of a bad time at the moment... that's why the 'other' part of him is acting up as much. :')**

 **It might not have been as obvious, but Itachi is the last living person to know chidori. That is why the medic didn't really want him near Naruto. :')**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey!**

 **I'm properly settled into my new room now and all my new house mates seem quite nice! :3**

 **I'll update every 2 or so days for the rest of this week (it's freshers week) but after that, I think I'm going to have to update once a week. :') I'm in my 3rd year now and have a dissertation to write too and won't be able to spend as much time on this as I would like. :')**

 **No guest reviews this time! :'D**

 **Thanks to those that followed this story!**

 **I don't own Naruto. :')**

 **Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Chapter 6

Sasuke paced back and forth outside of the waiting area of the operating theatre. Naruto had been in there for hours and hours and the young Uchiha was getting more and more impatient; he was actually getting nervous waiting to hear of the Hokage's state. His father was sat on one of the chairs across from the door. A more severe than usual frown marred the elder Uchiha's face and his body was more ridged than typical. He had more than once told his son to stop moving around so much, that it was unbecoming of a ninja, let alone an Uchiha.

Sasuke refrained from mentioning that, as a man who had not only abhorred the ninja way but had all but disowned Sasuke from the Uchiha clan, he could stick what 'was becoming of an Uchiha' up his arse. He chose to ignore his company.

Aside from his father, there was hardly anyone else in the area. Sasuke knew that only close friends and family were allowed near the theatre but surely the Hokage had more than a boy he lived with and an adopted son whom opposed him more often than supported him. Many of the Rock family were surely in the room with Naruto- trying to save his life, so their absence was explained and his own family would be at the station, ensuring peace was maintained while their leader was hospitalised….

But where were the rest? Didn't Naruto, the bubbliest, friendliest man Sasuke knew have more than two people who were close enough to him to warrant being in the room with him and his father?

Sasuke found himself almost expecting to see a bob of pink hair or hear the crunching of snacks- a flash white eyes on noble features or a range of gravity-defying hairstyles….

 _Sasuke couldn't help but remember the last time he had been in this room;_

 ** _Sasuke found himself pacing back and forth in the waiting area outside the operating theatre. Although he had been forced under clan and village laws to have… relationships… with the woman inside, he was somewhat amiable to her. More importantly, though, was the child she was baring him._**

 ** _The pregnancy had been going well until old enemies had heard of Sasuke's unborn child. The mother had been unable to defend herself properly and now both she and the child were in critical state. The only thing that had saved them had been that Yuuki-kun had been planning to visit and chased after when she realised something wasn't right._**

 ** _Eventually. Eventually, the surgeon came out and signalled for Sasuke to come to another room. He explained that village law states that if a clanless woman baring a clan child has complications in her pregnancy, all measures must be taken to save the child's life, regardless of the mother's life. As such, while the woman had died during the procedure, they had been able to save Sasuke's son._**

 ** _Relief spread through the dark haired man as the surgeon continued to explain that the child would have to be observed for some time before he could be released but it looked like he was on the home straight to recovery._**

 ** _The surgeon gestured to a small incubator with seals placed around it. Inside it was Sasuke's son. He reached forward to touch the boy's little hands and desperately tried to hold back tears. He heard the door to the room quietly open and close and felt three, very familiar chakara signals enter the room from behind him. He looked over when a small, feminine hand touched the side of the incubator to see Naruto's daughter smiling down at the new born child._**

 ** _"Well, I've only ever seen one Uchiha in real life before but he looks like an Uchiha, Sasuke-ji!" the girl said happily._**

 ** _At that, the grown Uchiha grasped the girl at his side and clung to her, frantically thanking her and swearing eternal gratitude- all the while tears streaking down his face. The two other people in the room had seen Sasuke at his worst so their seeing his tears was not a big deal._**

 ** _"So, Sasuke, what are you gonna call him-dattebayo?"_**

 ** _"Hn. What do you think, Yuuki-kun?"_**

 ** _The raven haired teenager pulled back and grinned, "You should call him Ita-"_**

Sasuke shook his head as he turned to walk the length of the room again. That hadn't happened he had never been in this waiting area before and he had certainly never been there as the previous Sasuke Uchiha; it was simply impossible!

 _Or was it? He could remember-_

NO! He remembered nothing! Only that he was Sasuke Uchiha, born on the 23rd of July, the son of _Fugaku_ -Itachi and _Mikoto_ -Ame Uchiha he was _an ex-rogue-nin-_ a jounin of the hidden leaf-

Sasuke's head was splitting and he cursed as he tried again;

He was Sasuke Uchiha, he was born on the 23rd of July, _He was a 36 year old man_. NO! He was only 15! _A rogue-nin turned elite ANBU._ Jounin! He was a jounin loyal to Konoha! _He grew up an orphan with Naruto._ He had been raised, in part, by Naruto. _Fuugaku and Mikoto!_ No! Itachi and Ame! _Itachi… brother…._ NO- FATHER! _Dead._ Alive! _Sasuke Uchiha._ Sasuke Uchiha.

What the hell was going on? This had to be some kind of genju-

 ** _KAI!_**

His surroundings did not dissolve around him, nor did the new images, _memories,_ leave his head. He was in reality. He clung to the only thing that he knew was right, he was Sasuke Uchiha.

He was both the grown man who had died in arms that smelled of ramen and summer and he was the teenager who had been born many years later and had been held by arms that had had that very same smell.

He was Sasuke Uchiha.

He lost consciousness and crumpled to the floor upon that revelation.

* * *

 **So a short chapter this time around, guys...**

 **I feel really bad for Itachi II's mother... In my mind, she was just a random woman selected to bear Sasuke's child and raise him. Sasuke could never bring himself to love her and she never loved him. As we all know, some of Konaha's decisions are messed up especially when it comes to the clans- *cough* letting the Uchiha massacre slide *cough* Allowing the Hyuuga to to do their thing *cough*- I don't think it is too far fetched to think that there might be a rule of that elk for clan children of clanless mothers (especially as in some countries, the child is prioritised over the mother in cases where only one can be saved).**

 **Basically the awakening of Sasuke's mangekyou has done something funny with Sasuke's head/mind. :')**

 **Please review! ^^***


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello again! :3**

 **Thanks to the story's new followers! :D**

 **I don't own Naruto! :/**

 **Here's chapter 7!**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Chapter 7

A week later and Naruto still hadn't woken up from the time of his operation. The streets of Konoha were rife with unrest and despite the chief of police being taken in under suspicion, no one was really any the wiser about who had attacked the Hokage. Sasuke, not wanting to return to the house he nearly lost his best friend in alone, spent most of his time in Naruto's hospital room.

Itachi Uchiha had been taken in under suspicion of attempting to kill the Hokage. The evidence at the scene largely indicated that Naruto had been familiar with his attacker, to the point that they had been able to use the rasengan.

This narrowed the list of potential suspects down greatly as few people were known to have been taught rasengan and even fewer were still alive. Naruto had only ever taught three people it in his life span; Konohamaru who never passed the skill on, his late daughter Yuuki and Itachi. Sasuke had, of course, inadvertently copied the jutsu in his previous life and again in his current one but it was the other assassination methods used that shone the light of suspicion away from him- the use of chidori.

Prior to his memories returning the week before, Sasuke had shown no inclination in wanting to use chidori. Naruto had attempted to teach him a few years before but his rather unorthodox teaching methods coupled with the fact the man couldn't use lightning natured chakara meant that his attempt had resulted in utter failure. The sixth Hokage had only taught one other person the jutsu and as a result, according to records, there was only one person that was able to perform both jutsu still alive.

The fact that Itachi Uchiha was known to harbour a great distaste for Naruto didn't help the man either.

Tensions within Sasuke's family were at an all-time high. Perhaps the relationship that had suffered the most had been between Sasuke and his only sister Yuriko – who believed that Sasuke could clear their father's name if he wanted to and was just being spiteful towards the man. Yuriko's twin brother, Seiji, had looked at Sasuke sympathetically after Yuriko had finished shouting at him before following after her. Sasuke hadn't seen nor heard from them since. Akihiro, the eldest, was heavily involved in the case and knew that their father's being still interrogated was mostly due to the man's stubbornness and refusal to answer questions. Nonetheless, he had come by a couple of times to see how his little brother was doing and had also tried to talk sense into Yuriko.

Sasuke's mother had been kept busy with her work at the hospital but popped by when she had the chance and made sure Sasuke was eating properly. Sometimes she would take some time to talk to the unconscious Naruto but never for long.

Because of this, Sasuke had a lot of time to think about the predicament he had found himself in (he had managed to organise his memories so that he no longer saw a young, pale face with dark hair over Ame's slightly wrinkled, tanned face and pink and grey streaked hair. His two lives were separated in his mind with only one connection between them: the man laying before him) and about who would have had the gall to attack one of the greatest shinobi to walk the earth.

The anger and need for revenge had not yet set in. He supposed it would take a couple of weeks like it had the last time he had found his loved ones in a pool of their own blood.

As the days went in, the teen sometimes found himself trying to distract himself from the situation by voicing his thoughts out loud and filling the silence with questions. He talked about many different things; from how the taste of tomatoes had changed a lot over the years he wasn't around- to how if Konoha ever found itself in financial problems, they could just sell the secret to looking youthful to the world. He even joked about how it was a good thing he had died just when he was starting to age in his past life because he would have looked ridiculous and felt pathetic next to the other two members of team 7. He shuddered when he realised that that would have made him the Jiraiya of the group and scowled even more at Naruto's seemingly youthful looks. He would have to get him to tell him his secret before he-

Sasuke stared even closer at the Hokage; the man would be 104 later that year. Even though he looked not much older than Itachi, Naruto had gotten really old. Sasuke clenched his fist and glared at the wall above the sleeping man as if it was the reason for Sasuke's revelation. Suddenly, Naruto not being awake for so long made terrible, terrible sense to Sasuke and his mind was back in turmoil. Never mind assassins- he was going to lose Naruto again just after remembering everything. But what could he do? He couldn't think of anyone of the same renown in the medical world as Tsunade and Sakura were that could help his friend. Besides, it wasn't an illness he wanted to stop in Naruto, it was time. The only person he could think of that might possibly….

Any thoughts of finding Naruto's attacker vanished from his mind.

He started towards the door with sudden new purpose. He knew how he was going to fix this. He wouldn't let Naruto leave him alone. He couldn't.

Sasuke could deal with physical enemies- ones he could see and feel the bite of their blade; time, however, was a completely different matter. He couldn't fight time, he couldn't kill time nor could he protect Naruto from it.

His advance was stopped as soon as he exited the room and nearly collided with Akihiro.

"Little brother, I have news."

"Hn." Sasuke sounded impatiently.

"Father's innocence has been proved."

"Hn."

"But… I don't know how to tell you this, Sasuke…"

"Just say it. I don't have time for this Aki."

"The interrogators forced their way into father's memories – it was under the vice-chief's orders – and they saw something."

Sasuke looked up at his brother, not liking where this was going.

Akihiro looked pained, "I'm sorry Sasuke but I can't help you. Why didn't you tell me you have the mangekyo?"

Sasuke ignored his brother's beseeching look and tensed. He could sense at least five hostile chakara signals surrounding him. He didn't have time for this, he had to find a way to save Naruto. There was only one option. He took a kunai from his pocket.

Akihiro noticed this too late and found himself restrained with the blade of a kunai pressing into his neck, "Sasuke, don't do this! You're only making things worse!"

"Shut up, Ni-san! I can't be arrested now! There's something I need to do!" Sasuke growled, sharingan ablaze.

Five ANBU appeared before him, "Uchiha. Let go of Akihiro."

"Sorry, Dog, I can't do that." Sasuke backed away from the masked men.

At first his brother's ragged breathing didn't register in his mind but when it did, the realisation that his brother had been raised, for the most part, as a civilian and was on the whole untrained for this kind of situation hit him like a ton of bricks. Though it wasn't the same situation by any stretch of imagination, Sasuke was dragging his innocent brother into the bloody, messy side of the ninja world that most never got to see. Just as Itachi had done to him all those decades ago.

Sasuke prayed that Akihiro would come to forgive him before shoving the man at the ANBU and running off.

He made it halfway through the village before he was caught. By the time he had been placed in a cell specifically designed to hold the most dangerous of ninja, word of his attempted escape had spread to the far corners of the village and most would agree that Sasuke Uchiha had tried to kill the Hokage.

In a room in the hospital, unaware of all that was going on outside his room, the Hokage's hand twitched a bit and the man slept on.

* * *

 **Ugh. This chapter was a pain to write. :')**

 **So it has finally occurred to Sasuke that looking like you're in your 40-50s at the age of 104 isn't normal and that, despite his looks, Naruto is old. :(**

 **Then there's the fact that he is now the chief suspect for Naruto's attempted murder.**

 **I'll prob update tomorrow to save myself having to do so on Sunday and then we're onto weekly updates. :D**

 **Thanks for reading! Please review! *.***


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry guys for this late chapter, life got in the way (majorly; first my dad came to visit and buy me enough food to last me the next two weeks, then Wales won against England in the rugby (I live with Welsh people so naturally copious amounts of alcohol had to be consumed (I didn't get a hangover thanks to the miraculous powers that are KFC and Irn Bru 3)), then family drama the next day... I just didn't have the time to post over the weekend. :')**

 **Anyhoo, thanks again to the people following this story and an even greater thanks to the folk that favourited it! :D**

 **I don't own Naruto...**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8

The S-class ninja holding cell was far from comfortable, Sasuke had decided. It had been built many years ago with ninja that could break chakara restraining seals in mind. It was a cell for the monsters of the world at the time; for the jinchuriki, for the cursed and for the mad. If Sasuke, in his first life had been born 50 years before along with all his acquaintances, the majority of them would have probably ended up in such a cell if they had been caught, Sasuke included.

He was unaware of how much time had passed since he had been put into the cell before he was dragged out of it and put into an interrogation room. The men that took him there said nothing even as they strapped him to a chair in the centre of the room.

He was left there waiting for quite some time- a standard interrogation technique – before a rather severe blonde haired man came into the room and silently took measure of him. Sasuke, unfazed despite the fact he was clearly facing a Yamanaka, just stared back.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hn."

"You know why you are here?"

"You think I tried to kill the Hokage." Sasuke scoffed.

"You act as though the very idea is laughable."

"It is." Sasuke snarled at the man, "I would neve-"

"Yet you took a hostage and fled upon hearing that you were under suspicion…." The man cut in with a bored voice, looking down at some notes and flicking through them, "Do you know who I am?"

Sasuke stayed silent; he had no idea who the man before him was.

He continued, "Not many do, funnily enough. Let me tell you a story."

Sasuke glared in response.

"A long time ago, there was a very, very bad man called Danzo. Maybe you've heard of him; he was, after all the man behind the slaughter of your clan in your grandfather's time..."

Sasuke did his best not to tense at the mention of Danzo's name and what happened to his clan.

"Danzo had a secret organisation called 'Root' where he gathered lots of little clan children and orphans. Many historians nowadays believe that he had been eying up our Hokage at for some time too. Imagine how that would have turned out!" The man gasped dramatically.

"He taught all the little children to kill their emotions, then he taught them to kill each other until only the strongest little boys and girls were left. One of which was a Yamanaka- my grandfather.

"Can you imagine? Someone who could enter your mind and tear it to shreds without feeling the least bit of guilt? That was my pops!

"It took him many, many years to recover from his conditioning but eventually he was able to fall in love and have a family! Isn't that wonderful!"

Sasuke's glare shifted to a look of wariness, "What's your point?"

"My point is, Sasuke dear, that my grandfather always maintained that the Hokage saved him and was unfailingly loyal to him. He made sure that his children and grandchildren were also loyal to a fault- not to the village but to the Hokage. He also taught us everything he knew…."

The man smiled in a way much reminiscent to the smiles Sasuke could remember Sai and a few other ex-root members producing and his blood chilled.

"The point is, Sasuke-kun, that while you do not know who I am, you now know what I am; a root trained Yamanaka who willingly owes his very life to a man lying in the hospital at this very moment."

The smile turned downright murderous.

"So, you little traitor, would you care to tell me all about how you tried to kill the Hokage?"

* * *

"Please, Itachi!" Ame begged, "That's your son! He's your boy! You know he didn't do it!"

"Ame, he attacked Akihiro. I can't do anything for him."

"You can't or you won't? You do know who they'll give him to for interrogation." the woman sneered at her husband.

"Dear-"

"Don't you 'Dear' me! I told you when you came back without that boy all those years ago that if you ever abandoned him again, I would never forgive you!"

Ame used a speed she hadn't used in years to grab her bag, "I gave up so much for you because I thought you loved me and that you would be a good father to your children!"

"Where are you going?" Itachi called after her into the porch.

She angrily put on her shoes and stood up, "I'm going to save my son!"

"You can't go back to them!"

Ame ignored him and slammed the door as she ran out into the storm outside.

"Father?"

Itachi turned to see Akihiro standing at the hall entrance. Itachi rubbed his temples, "What is it, son?"

"It wasn't Sasuke."

"I know that! But how can you say that after what he did to you?"

"Father, look at my neck." Akihiro gestured to his neck, "I hate to admit it but I was trembling like a tree when he held that knife to my neck yet he still never marked me."

Itachi regarded his son's tanned neck and sighed, "You know I can't do anything for him, Son. I have no say over this case."

"Don't you know someone who could help?"

"…."

"I know you burned all those bridges when you left that part of your life but there's still got to be some people…. Maybe some of Aunt-Sakura's family-"

"There's no one, I tell you! When he ran, he basically announced to the whole village that he was guilty. Short of getting infallible proof that it wasn't him, something we both know…" Itachi trailed off.

"What is it, father?" Akihiro said as his father grabbed a pair of shoes and shoved them on

"I have to go!" Itachi opened the door and ran out leaving his eldest son alone to close the door behind him.

"I don't think I've ever seen him so flustered," Akihiro looked over to a photo of himself and Sasuke at a festival and smiled fondly, "foolish little brother."

* * *

Hardly anyone was on the streets of Konoha as a drenched, panting pink haired woman ran into the Yamanaka clan compound. Ame ran up to one of the larger houses reserved for the more important people in the clan and hammered on the door crying out for the owner to answer.

Eventually, the door was opened to reveal a tall, blonde haired man. Ame crashed into him in a relieved hug.

"Ame? What are you doing here?

Ame sniffed, "Nii-chan, I don't know what to do!"

* * *

 **So basically, s*** is going down in the Uchiha family. ^^**

 **Tune in next week to find out who Itachi II is going to, how Sasuke deals with his interrogation and most importantly, who the hell Ame is! :P**

 **Also, yes, I did just make Akihiro say, "foolish little brother." I made him to be a little like how Itachi might have turned out if he hadn't been forced into the whole 'Ninja** **genius, saviour of the clan' thing.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi guys! Life jumped out and slapped me across the face this week... Between being ill, family drama and, of course, uni work, I just didn't have time to update. Right now, I'm laying in bed, aching all over. :')**

 **Thanks to the people who are following/ have favourited this story! :D**

 **I don't own Naruto!**

 **Enjoy! :3**

* * *

Chapter 9

Sasuke limped through the corridors of his mindscape, trying to escape the madman behind him. He had invaded other people's minds before but had never been subjected to it. This was not something he knew how to fight against, chakara or not, and so he just tried to keep the invader from the older parts of his mind.

"Come on, traitor-kun, I know you're hiding the memory of trying to kill the nanadaime somewhere in here!"

A flash and Sasuke was lying prone on the ground staring into Sakura's lifeless eyes. He couldn't move or find his voice. The teen whimpered as he took in the Hokage's office, trying to avoid looking at his dying team mate. Beyond her he could see the Yamanaka approaching. The man stopped short of the Sakura in Sasuke's memories and looked towards the child laying across from him; a gleeful, wide smile spreading over his face – the picture of insanity.

"Oh yes!" The blonde haired man said as he crouched over the woman's body, "I nearly forgot!"

Sasuke felt himself being picked up by Naruto as his memory played itself out. He curled in on himself as the man carrying him ran from the room. While their surroundings disappeared upon their leaving the room, the memory Naruto remained.

A singsong voice called after them as they raced through the mindscape, "You killed the lady Sakura too!"

The teen closed his eyes and let the memory of the smell of ramen and summer give him temporary relief. He was quickly becoming exhausted from all the strain his mind was being put under. It was only a matter of time before his true identity was found.

* * *

"Nii-chan, I don't know what to do!" Ame cried.

"Okay," she heard Seiten's soft voice from above, "first let's get you inside and dried. Then we can talk about what all this is about."

Ame nodded and accepted the towel he offered her.

Once he had supplied her with a change of clothes and had sat her down in his kitchen with a hot drink she explained all that had happened.

"He didn't do it!"

"I believe you." Her brother replied, "I've seen Sasuke in and around the Hokage building, he's a good kid."

Ame slumped down in relief, "Thank goodness!"

"I still can't see what brings you here though, Ame. Wouldn't your husband be better for sorting this out? There's not much I can do for Sasuke."

"They've assigned Jiro to interrogate him."

"What?" the man's eyes widened, "but I wasn't consulted!"

Ame sighed, "I thought so… I know you can't do much to help in proving his innocence but I thought you might be able to stop Sasuke's mind being torn apart and Itachi… Itachi will have nothing to do with it! You know better than most what he's like…. So I walked out- he's going to be so angry at me!"

Seiten got up and looked down at his younger sister, "Ehh, it sounds like you and your husband had quite some fight, you wanna stay here tonight?"

Ame looked up, surprised, "I don't think I have the right to your hospitality after the way I chose to leave you all those years ago."

"Ahh, that." Seiten scratched his head, "The way I see it, I kinda forced you into a corner when I left to join the clan."

Ame smiled, "I forgave you for that years ago, Nii-san."

"Just as I forgave you years ago, Ame." The man smiled back, "Besides, I'm your big brother, you'll never get rid of me! That's just the way it works! So, you staying?"

Ame nodded her head and took another sip of her tea finally relaxing her tense body. She sighed in relief; Seiten would be able to do something to save her son. All her worries about being turned away by her brother long gone.

Her brother went to change into more suitable clothes for the weather, not forgetting to grab his work identification tag- he would be needing it.

"Right," Seiten said, mostly to himself, "Off I go to rampage on the police department."

One did not use the head of T&I's own department to cross him or his family. It was time for Jiro and the vice-chief of police to learn that there are scarier things than the remains Danzo's legacy.

* * *

Sasuke was now running behind his memory of Naruto. The old man's hand gripped the teen's arm tightly and his face was set in an expression of determination that Sasuke had seen countless times before. The part of his mind that they were running through was in tatters, as was the most of his current life's part of his mind.

Memories of the people in his current life would appear and try to ward the Yamanaka off. The invader was merciless in fighting his way through them; throwing them through walls and slicing through them.

The raven could feel himself break a little with every wall they crashed through, with every room the madman defiled with his presence and the blood of his memories. The only thing keeping Sasuke sane was the relatively unscathed part of his mind he had separated and hidden away when the nightmare had started- that and the hand still firmly tugging at his wrist.

"How can you still be here?" The invader screeched waving his clawed weapons around, "I've slashed through your whole family, scarred your mind and pulled apart your walls! You should be a sobbing mess by now!"

The teen crashed into memory-Naruto after glancing back at the Yamanaka. The memory had stopped abruptly upon reaching a blockade in Sasuke's mind. Nomally, the corridor would have led to the newly integrated, old part of Sasuke's being but as Sasuke had been hiding that part of him, they had ran into a dead end.

Sasuke panted and got ready for the next attack but it never came. Memory Naruto jumped in front of him and took the hit. The Yamanaka closed his clawed hands against the memory's throat and started hitting the man against the wall blocking their way. Sasuke went to stop him but it was too late; the wall crumbled and through the hole created seeped through all the anger and hate Sasuke could remember feeling for so long of his last life. The Yamanaka threw the weakened memory of Naruto to his side.

"Oh ho ho! Look what I've found, Traitor-kun! My my, what a naughty boy you are, thinking you could hide anything from me!"

Just as the madman was about to pull apart the wall even more, the Hokage was replaced by a much younger version of himself. The younger Naruto stood up and as joined by another memory that had seeped through the hole in the barrier; Sasuke's brother, Itachi.

"What- what is this?" Sasuke's interrogator gulped at the killer intent the two memories were emitting.

He looked over to Sasuke whose form had changed from the child that had fallen from the Hokage's roof all those years ago to that of the original Sasuke Uchiha in his prime.

"Who are you?" The Yamanaka cried as the three men surrounded him.

"Get out." Sasuke said through clenched teeth.

"I've seen the photos… That's the Hokage in his youth- the other one is the original Itachi Uchiha and you… that form! You're-"

"I am Sasuke Uchiha. Both this life and my last." Sasuke informed the man, "and now you know, I can't let you live."

Sasuke steeled himself for what he was about to do but before he could, he felt two hands grasp his shoulders. Looking over to the memories of two of his most precious people, he saw them shake their heads. He sighed, even in his mind Naruto's sense of justice was unwavering and his brother didn't want him tainted.

While he was distracted, the Yamanaka fled through the barrier. Cursing, Sasuke followed after with his companions close behind.

He found himself in a hauntingly familiar forest clearing and turned to see the madman holding a teenaged girl and a baby hostage. Sasuke froze; the two memories being threatened before him were the two he could never let any harm come to. He had failed them in life so it was all he could do to preserve them perfectly in his memories.

"Y'know," the Yamanaka drawled, "I never thought I would ever meet the esteemed fourth member of team seven."

"Do you think that meeting his reincarnation counts?" The man asked, his head tilted questioningly, "I think it does. I also think this changes everything!"

Sasuke's only reply was the raising of an eyebrow.

"I mean, if you're _the_ Sasuke Uchiha, then we need to remove you all the more. You are bad for the Hokage! You'll hurt him!"

* * *

It was dark in the hospital room when the dark figure entered some time after the interrogation started.

Itachi moved closer to the Hokage's bedside, his pitch black eyes never leaving the man's face.

He cleared his throat, "Hokage-sama, you must wake. They think Sasuke tried to kill you."

There was no response.

The Uchiha wetted his lips and tried again, "I- I can't do anything to help him. When they came for him, the stupid boy ran. They took it as a sign he's guilty."

Still nothing.

"Hokage-sama? Please help my son."

Itachi glowered, then closed his eyes and swallowed his pride for the sake of his son, "Please wake up, Naruto-ji. Sasuke nee- no- I need your help. I'm begging you!"

Itachi waited a moment before sighing and turning to leave the room. It had been a waste of time after all.

"Geeze, 'Tachi-chan, you only needed to say it once." A weak voice came from below him.

Itachi stopped but kept silent.

"Don't be like that 'Tachi-chan! Help me up!"

The raven haired man helped the Hokage up out of his bed and into his clothes.

"Argh," Naruto moaned rolling his shoulders, "How long was I out?"

"A little over a week."

"Really? Man, I must be getting old if it's taking me over a week to wake up after an injury." Naruto laughed.

At first, Naruto needed some help in walking but soon enough he was well enough to force Itachi to follow him onto the rooftops.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes flared red, "I would never hurt Naruto!"

He would have attacked the man were it not for the two hostages and the tanned and pale hands holding him back, "I couldn't-"

"Oh? You couldn't hurt the Hokage? Then what were all those years and fights in your youth doing if not hurting him? What about when you left him again after the war? Everyone knows that when you died the first time the vengeance the Hokage sought was just as much for you as it was for his only child! No you wouldn't hurt the Hokage! You would chip away at him until he was completely destroyed!

"You are the reason his daughter died, you are the reason the lady Hinata died, you are the reason the Hokage and your current father are so estranged, you are the reason it took him so long to take up the mantel of Hokage, you are the reason the lady Sakura died and you'll be the reason the Hokage himself dies!"

Sasuke struggled to reconcile all this with his memories and the Naruto he knew. He knew he had hurt Naruto in the past but he had fixed it! Naruto was happy with him! No, it was those who would take Naruto from him that were hurting Naruto. People like the one that tried to kill him and the man before him right now. No one- nothing would separate Sasuke and Naruto again. Sasuke couldn't lose his best friend. He wouldn't. Sasuke could feel a familiar rage flow through him and directed it at the Yamanaka.

The memories of people in the area vanished like smoke and Sasuke started advancing on his interrogator.

The fight was a fast one. With emotion as strong as his behind him, Sasuke pulled no punches. The Yamanaka man stood no chance. Just as Sasuke was about to irrevocably injure the interrogators mind probe, the two blinked back into reality. Sasuke felt so disorientated by the change in his surroundings, he couldn't feel either the smothering killing intent filling the room or the two new men in the room, one being the producer of the atmosphere in the room, the other a trembling mess.

All he could feel was the warmth of his mother's arms holding him and the smell of summer and ramen permeating faintly around.

* * *

 **Okay! So that was chapter 9! :)**

 **I have a good idea of where I want to take this fic and the the events of both parts A and B are planned out and seem fine in my head. It is the getting from part A to part B that is giving me problems...**

 **I want it to flow so badly but right now but it just doesn't seem natural in my head... :')**

 **Ahh... I'll solve this problem like how I do most problems; talk to a friend about it. ^^**

 **Either way, I think I'll be good for the next couple of chapters but then Imma have to sit down and seriously think about how to get to part B smoothly. :')**

 **In other news! Behold: each of my OCs have back stories (in my mind)! Basically, Ame's mother was a Yamanaka and her father was a distant cousin of Sakura. She and her brother were raised together until it was found that her elder brother, Seiten, had inherited the Yamanaka clan's mind jutsu ability. Ame hadn't.**

 **Seiten left his immediate family to join the Yamanaka clan properly and, in the backlash, Ame got friendly with Itachi who, at the time, was beginning to harbour some anti-shinobi sentiment...**

 **Of course, the head canon/ imagination of a fan girl is infinitely more complicated than the summary above so look forward to more background OC angst from just about every OC and lest see if you can piece together what is going on in my mind! :P**

 **Enough rambling, I hope you enjoy your week!**

 **Until next time! :)**

 **(Please review!)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! I'm sorry I didn't get this uploaded over the weekend. Last week was an absolute nightmare; I had a crap load of group work *shudders*, a presentation to give *even more shudders* and a room inspection (which I passed but I had to spend like, the whole day tidying and ended up doing the whole house just in case the inspectors were also doing communal areas) *cries*.**

 **See bottom AN for my rambles about where this fic is going.**

 **Also... a nice Guest review has happened! :D My faith in anonymity is restored! ^^***

 **Thank you for being so nice, dearest Anon! :3**

 **Also, thanks to the people who have followed/favourited this story! :D**

 **I don't own Naruto**

 **Let the chapter begin (this chapter has not been looked at by a beta (my friend) so be warned, there will prob be mistakes galore)!**

* * *

Chapter 10

Once Naruto and Seiten were done with the vice-chief of police and Jiro, not only was Sasuke a free man, but he had all the men that had wronged him bowing down before him, begging his forgiveness. Something which Sasuke had found rather satisfying.

Be that as it may, Sasuke had far from recovered. His mind had underwent a lot of strain and he was no less determined to find out who had tried to kill his friend and saving him from death. While the undeniable truth of Naruto's ageing was ever present in his mind, Sasuke had been wronged and a deep need for revenge had taken root within him.

With his memories from both his previous and present lives intact, Sasuke was strong enough to fight off whoever came for Naruto- but Sasuke didn't want to just fight them off; he wanted to completely annihilate anyone in the village who so much as thought ill towards their Hokage.

Perhaps Naruto could feel the change in his charge. If he could, he pretended he couldn't. Pretended he couldn't feel his presence outside his office, pretended he didn't notice the way dark bags developed under the teenager's eyes or the way he tensed when anyone apart from Naruto came near.

Sometimes, when Sasuke looked up to see the elder man staring at him, it looked like Naruto had just seen a ghost. But Sasuke had other things to worry about- he had a traitor to catch and so he pretended not to notice the changes in his friend or himself either.

Instead he focussed on the politics within the village- whilst keeping an eye on his friend- who supported Naruto, who didn't? Who would have the gall to try to carry out an assassination attempt and who had the power?

Again and again, the same name kept popping up in Sasuke's head and try as he might, he couldn't completely dismiss it.

This went on for a week before Naruto decided that he had had enough of pretending.

* * *

Sasuke was like a man possessed reading through the archives of the village, trying to fill his gaps in knowledge of what had happened in the 50 or so years he had not been present in the village. He ignored his concerned team mates when they came and allowed his mother to feed him after his newly found uncle dragged him to her.

He only really stepped back from his searches when the smell of hot, fresh ramen approached. Only one person in the village would think that ramen was a good meal to give to someone that was practically starving himself.

"So…." Naruto began after they finished eating, "That was your first mind focussed interrogation?"

"Hn."

"How are you coping?"

Sasuke frowned, wondering how to respond, in the end he settled for another, "Hn."

"Ya know, aside from the obvious, the first time someone else ever entered my mind was your grandfather-dattebayo."

Half of Sasuke wanted to snort in amusement that Naruto was, as ever, trying to use 'talk-no-jutsu' on him while the other wanted to recoil in horror and beg Naruto's forgiveness- he hadn't torn through Naruto's mind like Jiro had, had he? All he could remember was that sewer like room and the Kyuubi. He hadn't hurt Naruto, had he? Certainly, Naruto's mind hadn't engaged in outright war like his had with Jiro….

"It's completely different from what happened to you but I'll tell you what happened, if you want?"

For the first time in the past two weeks, Sasuke's mind was on something other than the recent attack. His mouth was suddenly very dry when he made a slow nod for the man to continue.

"I don't even know if he meant to do it. He just looked at me with his sharingan and whoosh, there we were, in my mindscape.

"You have to understand, a person's mindscape is like a person's opinion of themselves. It is the most personal thing a person can have- in it, you are king. No one can reach you nor touch you there but there your grandfather was. After just casually entering the deepest part of my mind, he walked past me and saw my darkest secret at the time – Kurama.

"See, I spent years and years being hated and hunted for what is inside of me. Kurama was the reason I couldn't have friends, he was the reason so many people I loved nearly died or actually died. He was literally what went bump in the night for me and the only thing that was keeping me and everyone near me safe was a seal that at a moment of weakness could be removed like that," Naruto snapped his fingers, "I stood no chance against Kurama, not even in my own mindscape."

Sasuke started as Naruto chuckled, "Kurama was all that to me and Sasuke, your grandfather just waltzed into my mindscape and stopped him like he was just the family's old pet dog.

"He probably never even thought about it again afterwards but if there was ever a moment where Sasuke Uchiha senior made me feel utterly pathetic, it was then." Naruto tried to look Sasuke in the eye.

The boy frowned; Naruto was right, he had never thought about it again, and certainly not like that.

After a few moments thought, Sasuke finally spoke, "That's not what I was thinking about…."

"Ahh, so I should have started our talk asking about your recent and sudden interest in village politics? What's bothering you- you're not planning to take my job, are you? I only managed to get this gig just over 50 years ago so I'll not be giving it up easily. I'm aiming to beat the record for longest reigning Kage and I'm sooo close-dattebayo!"

Sasuke did snort this time before frowning, "Why didn't you fight back?"

Naruto looked puzzled for a couple of moments before realising what the teen was asking about, "Sasuke…"

Sasuke felt a sudden wave of anger, "Was it someone from the village?"

"No! Well, yes but…."

The teen reached to grab the collar of the Hokage's coat, "Promise me! Promise me that you'll fight back, no matter what!"

"Sasuke. I can't promise you-"

"Even if it's me!" Sasuke shouted over him, "Even if I turn on you, promise me that you'll stop me- or kill me."

Naruto's eyes softened and he leaned his head in until their foreheads were touching, "I won't promise you that, Sasuke. If I ever do something so bad that you think I need to die for it, I'll let you.

"And, while I don't know what's going on in here," he tapped the side of Sasuke's head, "I do know when you're hurting-dattebayo. I don't understand it, but when I see you like this, taking all these burdens upon yourself, I hurt too."

Sasuke closed his eyes and let sleep take him. His dreams were peaceful, filled with what could have been had he called out to the little blonde haired boy at the pier all those years ago, had he not left for the sake of power, had he not killed his brother and been able to save Naruto's family. Had he not died.

And through the happy dreams of Sasuke growing old with his friends; his family surrounding him- _the name_ loomed.

* * *

 **And so, chapter 10 is done! :)**

 **As for where I'll be going from here, here's a vague explanation:P :**

 **On the weekend, I just crashed and when I looked at my plans for future chapters, it turns out that part A didn't have a couple of chapters left. It ended last chapter/this one... :/**

 **I had to come up with a plan, and fast. :') After like an hour of worrying about it on the phone with my friend, I decided to switch the next two 'arcs' of the story. I kinda wanted to do all the stuff that will happen in this upcoming part later but the story will flow much better this way. :3**

 **On the downside, I have very little planned for this part as I thought I had quite some time before getting to it. It might not be as well thought out as the previous part (though I intend to do my very best and my head is already buzzing with ideas!)**

 **Thank for reading!**

 **Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Oh my gosh. 3rd year is trying to kill me.**

 **It seems like forever and a day ago that I last posted a chapter and I'm not really much further forward on figuring out what the hell is going on in this arc than I was last week. I literally just wrote this chapter whereas I'm normally like a week ahead of myself. TT_TT**

 **Anyhoo, thanks to all those that follow and have this story as a favourite! You guys are the ones that are helping my fangirling-ness pull my sluggish mind along for the ride. ^^**

 **I don't own Naruto. :')**

 **Here's chapter 11!**

* * *

Chapter 11

Sasuke glared at his father and twin siblings across the table. His newly found uncle had invited over all of his in-laws for dinner so they could get to know each other properly. The dinner had ended up taking place in Naruto's house as it seemed to be considered 'neutral ground' by both families.

Two weeks after Sasuke's release, his mother still had not spoken a word to his father. This had caused a glaringly obvious rift in the family with Sasuke, Seiten and Ame on one side and Itachi and the twins on the other.

Akihiro and Naruto had tried to calm things down between the two groups but had only ended up being shouted at by both sides. Undeterred, they continued to try to get them all to talk over dinner.

"So Aki-chan, how is your wife? I hear she's expecting again-dattebayo!" Naruto continued his rather amicable conversation with the man.

"Emi is doing great, Naruto-ji. She's sorry she couldn't make it today- my in-laws wanted her to visit them. I don't think they're very _happy_ with how _things_ are going in the _Uchiha_." Akihiro replied, smiling whilst pointedly looking around at his family that had become suddenly very shifty eyed.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice the conspiring glanced between the two and winced; it appeared that the Hokage and his eldest brother had not appreciated their earlier attempts at peace making being ignored by both sides and intended on making the meal as uncomfortable for the rest of them as they could.

Then Akihiro dropped the bomb.

"I'm thinking of sending Momo to the academy."

Seven pairs of shocked eyes whipped around to look at him. Even Naruto looked mildly surprised.

Itachi began to speak, "Aki-"

"I will not have you talk me out of this, father." Akihiro said over him.

"Well," Ame said, seeing an opportunity to try to win her eldest over, "I think it's a great idea! Momo is terribly shy; the academy could be the making of her!"

Seiten nodded sagely beside her whilst Yuriko glared at her mother more than she ever had before.

"Hmm," Naruto replied thoughtfully, "she's five now, isn't she? I don't see how that would be a problem. Ah, but she would have to join after the summer and pass some exams to join the second year."

Akihiro nodded, "I thought so- I ran the idea by her and Emi and they both seemed agreeable to it."

Silence rang around the table.

"Emi has a chunin uncle that would be willing to help her catch up but I would rather ask an Uchiha," he went on to say, looking around the table, "or a Yamanaka."

Sasuke kept his eyes on the table and the conversation around him faded to the background, a small part of him wanted to offer to tech his niece, to pass on what few clan techniques he had been taught and recovered from the Uchiha archives. Another part- a mainly prideful part- didn't want to offer for fear of being rejected. He had yet to apologise to Akihiro, and while the man didn't seem to have any problems sitting next to him at the dinner table, being around his daughter was a completely different matter.

Then there was the part that screamed for revenge, which screamed that his niece could wait until he has righted all the wrongs in the village, that Naruto was more important.

Sasuke blinked. Since when was Naruto more important than family? Since when would he ignore his family in favour of saving his best friend?

"Sasuke?" Akihiro asked, "I don't know much about nin-jutsu but I've heard around the village that you are one of the best the village has seen…."

Sasuke's mouth was suddenly very dry.

"Oh yes!" Naruto said, pride seeping from his words, "I'd wager that he's on track to being more powerful than his grandfather or me when we were his age! He would have been long ago if he had managed to get the chidori down…."

"Is that so?" Akihiro laughed as if he hadn't heard this praise hundreds of times before from Naruto, "well in that case, I have to insist, Sasuke. Please teach my daughter."

Sasuke felt all eyes shift to him but he could only look at his brother and his best friend. Perhaps he could- suddenly all but two people at the table were covered in wounds and soaked in their own blood in his mind. The _name_ loomed and Sasuke slowly turned to stare back at the only other blood free face in the room. Calm eyes stared blankly back and Sasuke knew he couldn't do it. He had to save them before it happened again.

He opened his mouth slowly.

 _I'm sorry, Sasuke._

"I'm sorry, Akihiro."

 _Maybe next time._

"Maybe next time."

For some reason, Naruto looked more disappointed by his decision than his brother did.

* * *

 **Okay, so not much going on in this chapter at surface level- but there is a lot going on in the background with each of the characters (whom, I know I promised wouldn't have any pivotal roles but shit happened... OTL)**

 **The character dynamics have changed massively over the past couple of chapters with perhaps the greatest transformation being Ame; who has went from being this fairly quiet, subordinate wife to a lioness defending her youngest cub.**

 **I think I'm going to use this arc to deal more with Sasuke's relationships (as well as catching the person trying to kill Naruto) with a focus on his relationships with his siblings... and maybe Itachi. :/**

 **If you think this is a terrible idea, speak now (and give god reasons) or forever hold your peace. :)**

 **We've also gotten a step closer to learning who the owner of 'the name' is. :P**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Please review! *.***


	12. Chapter 12

**Oh my gosh! I'm sooooo sorry this is out so late! Basically, life punched me in the face what with house-mate drama, my anxiety acting up, Christmas drama, anxiety, Exams, running out of medication, anxiety being worse because of lack of medicine, a friend deciding that evedently I wasn't coping and 'bitch, we're going on holiday' and then coming back and having to face all the things that I had been running away from in the first place. Oh, and being broke from having to pay my rent. And my dissertation.**

 **Thanks to all the people that have reviewed and followed this story. I'm going to try to have things back and running smoothly again before summer but be warned that 3rd year of Uni is a selfish cow and if she want's my undivided attention, she'll get it, one way or another.. ¬¬**

 **Guest review replies:**

 **Hey Guest! Thanks for commenting on my fic! I'm glad you like it! :3 I'm not really planning on taking on any other fics until I get this one done. Then I have a one shot I wanna mess around with... But I do think that the concept of Sasuke being reborn as Naruto's son is an interesting one. I don't think I'll be able to write one exactly like how you seem to want but you have given me food for thought for this fic in particular! :) Of course Sasuke doesn't see Naruto as his father but from Naruto's point of view (in this fic), he has been helping raise Sasuke since he was little. There's gotta be at least a little bit of paternal instinct there... :')**

 **-Tamagoyakihime**

 **Anyhoo, This chapter is unbetad. If you spot any mind-numbingly horrifying spelling or grammar mistakes (take note I use UK English), please let me know! Thanks for reading and please leave a review! As ever, I don't own Naruto! :'(**

* * *

Chapter 12

 _Sasuke passed by the gates that signified the beginning of the Uchiha clan grounds, unfazed by how quiet the street was or by the fact that the street he was on hadn't existed in years, he walked towards his house. The black haired man stooped down to enter the front door of his old house and was greeted by the lifeless eyes and blood soaked body of his mother-_

A teenaged Sasuke woke abruptly from his sleep. He had been dreaming the same dream every night since the meal at Naruto's. At that moment, he was glad he didn't live with his family and that Naruto had been snowed under with work- he didn't think he could see their lifeless bodies and _that person_ standing, smiling, after just having killed the Hokage every night in his dreams and interact with them like normal in the day…. Furthermore, with no one around him, he could further his investigation on the person trying to kill his best friend.

Well, there was almost no one around him, Akihiro had been making a point of visiting him at Naruto's house and had an uncanny ability to find him when he was out in the village. This all wasn't bad as Akihiro reminded Sasuke of his brother in his previous life and his daughter, who often tagged along with him in an attempt to guilt him into training her, reminded him of a less annoying, cuter version of Naruto at that age- bad temper included.

Sasuke groaned as he stretched and opened his bedroom door, the smell of freshly cooked rice and miso soup drifting towards him as he walked to the bathroom. It seemed that that morning Emi had accompanied her husband and daughter and had cooked them breakfast. She had come a few times since she got back from her family but had never came two days in a row before. Sasuke thought her sudden attentiveness strange, annoying and peculiarly… warm.

Either way, he cancelled all his plans to go looking for information that day, Akihiro still didn't know he suspected a member of their family and he wanted to keep it that way; at least until he had solid evidence.

As soon as he made it to the bottom of the stairs, Sasuke found himself being nearly ran over by his niece.

"Sasu-ji! Hurry up! We're all waiting for you to come and eat so Daddy and Naruto-jiji can go to work!"

The little girl held her arms up to the teenager and pouted, silently demanding to be carried to the kitchen on her uncle's shoulders. Sasuke relented and knelt down to allow her to clamber on and make sure she had a good (read: painful) grip before setting off to get his breakfast.

Sure enough Naruto was sitting at the table, talking amicably with Akihiro and Emi but his attention switched to the two incomers moments after they entered the room.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called, smiling just like every morning since the boy moved in- like his very day had been brightened by his presence.

Sasuke made his way to sit beside the Hokage. He muttered a quick 'Itadakimasu' before tucking into the food before him. Naruto and his brother made an effort to get him involved in their conversation but eventually gave up as it was all too obvious that Momo was vying for his attention too and it was too early in the morning for them to deal with one of her tantrums.

Understanding this, Sasuke kept one ear on the adult's conversation about what the independent police investigation conducted by Itachi's team on Naruto's assailant and the other ear on Momo's chatter about whether the other kids in the academy would be mean to her because she was going later than them.

Sasuke snorted when he heard Akihiro say that Itachi was taking on an inordinate amount of work on Naruto's case and that he wasn't resting as well as he should. Still, he thought it might be useful to have a look to see what 'evidence' his father had gotten his hands on.

He frowned as he felt his arm being tugged by his niece. If he wanted to have a look at the police files about the case, it would be best to do it when the twins were taking Itachi over food. He had been keeping an eye on the station before that point so he already knew their routine. Of course, if he wanted to make use of that window he would have to blow off whatever plans, his sister-in-law and niece had planned for him and should make his escape before Naruto and Akihiro had the chance to leave.

Making his excuses, he slipped away from the table having eaten very little- he was too distracted by his thoughts. The raven haired adolescent made his way to his room, then out the window and on to the station his family used to run.

* * *

Sasuke was fairly surprised to feel a not so well hidden presence in his father's office while the man was out. He was even more surprised to look behind the desk to find his brother, Seiji.

"God's Sasuke! It's only you!" Sasuke's second eldest brother gasped, "I was so worried that father had come back early. You do know that you two have this kind of looming, brooding intensity about you that makes us ordinary human beings want to shit their pants?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow but was otherwise unfazed by his brother's reaction to him. Next to Yuriko, Seiji was typically quiet and let her have all the attention but on his own, he couldn't be farther from the typical Uchiha demeanour.

"That's the look!" The elder teen pointed and laughed, "Seriously, how can two people that dislike each other as they do be so similar? Though I suppose we can blame it on genetics this time…"

Sasuke cut in before Seiji could continue and waste more of his time, "Seiji. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you, brother-mine… and since we're doing the whole pretending to have sticks up our arses and I'm the elder brother here, you should tell me what you're doing here!"

Sasuke glowered and fought against releasing killing intent against the room's other occupant lest every semi competent ninja, including his father, sense them in that room. "I want to look at what Father has found on the Hokage's attack."

"What a coincidence! So am I!" His brother exclaimed, "To be perfectly honest, I don't think it was you and I don't like this whole feud within the family that's going on so I thought that if I had a look at what our old man was doing, I might be able to help him so he can get 'round to sorting things out with Mother…"

Seiji looked down at the desk next to him and Sasuke sighed, "That's not why I'm here… I just want to get the bastard who did that to Naruto and make them pay. I have my suspicions about who it might be…"

"Who?"

Sasuke shook his head, "No. I don't want to get you involved with this."

Seiji gestured around himself, "To be honest, Sasuke, I don't think I count as being uninvolved anymore. Come on, I'll help you look and you can fill me in…. I might not look it, but I did train all those years to be in the police- how else do you think I managed to get in here?"

'Pure dumb luck?' Sasuke thought to himself, "Hn. I'm not going to tell you anything that could get you in danger but I suppose you could read through this stuff and see if you can find anything interesting. We have about half an hour before Father returns."

Sasuke settled himself down by the desk and started to sort through the files before him. He sighed as he realised this was going to take more than just one visit to read over all the material. Thankfully he had his brother to help him. If there was one thing he had learned from his last life, it was that sometimes it was better working with a team.

* * *

 _Sasuke didn't bother taking off his shoes as he made his way along the corridor before stopping at bloody shoji to his left. Fugaku's study. He carefully slid the door open to see his eldest brother's family laying lifelessly on the floor. The blood seeping from their wounds not yet dry. Bloody tears trailed down Sasuke's face as he saw that Akihiro had been trying to protect his wife and child before he was slaughtered. Emi was slumped over Momo, their empty, glassy eyes staring through him accusingly. Unable to take anymore, Sasuke slid the door shut and continued down the hall. The Name sounding all around him in harsh whispers…._

* * *

 **Let it be known that I am crap at writing children. I'm not the greatest fan of them and therefore have never really taken any interest in what level of development they tend to be in when they are five... Hence Momo is basically a hyper, attention seeking, talkative adult in a child's body. For this I apologise. I shall try to do better if ever she appears again... (it is likely! D: ).**

 **I'm thinking of spitting this whole thing in my head into, like, 2 or 3 fics. As it stands, this could end up being a fairly long project but it's never going to keep up momentum if I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. I think that if, in a few weeks/months I am able to mark this as complete, I'll feel better about myself and will be able to have where I want this thing to go clearer in my mind. I would, of course, provide the details of the next portion of fic when it becomes available after this one is done. Let me know what you think! :3**

 **Again, sorry for the long wait! :')**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So my life would appear to be becoming more manageable... :)**

 **I ended up writing this chapter as an escape from writing my dissertation. :') My the gods of studying forgive me.**

 **I'm starting to wrap this part of the story up which is good. The majority of this part has been written off the top of my head and I'm looking forward to getting back to the plan! :D**

 **Responses to Anon reviews *cough* flames *cough***

 **Darling Anon,**

 **I see you are continuing your mission to save man kind but I do not see my study on the effects my fanfic has had on the world on Nature yet...**

 **Sucks to be you.**

 **As ever, I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter 13

It took a few visits for Seiji and Sasuke to find anything worth mention, well lack of something would perhaps be a better way to put it.

"You notice that he has information and alibis for about everyone in the village but there's nearly nothing on us, apart from the notes from your interrogation?" Seiji spoke softly over to him, "I mean, this is Father…. You would think that his priority would be to clear the Uchiha name first."

"Hn." Sasuke replied, "Perhaps he has the Uchiha files elsewhere… You know what he's like when it comes to the privacy of the clan."

"Or if he thinks it was one of us." Seiji replied ponderingly.

Sasuke didn't say anything in response to this, he scanned around the room with his sharingan, hoping to find something he could use.

Seiji's eyes remained their cool black colour as he too distractedly looked around the room, "I mean, I've been thinking about this quite a lot. 'specially since I noticed there was little to nothing on the Uchiha in relation to this case."

Sasuke noticed something written in chakara ink on a postit on the wall next to the map on the wall. To the normal eye, it looked non-descript but to eyes such as Sasuke's it revealed some crucial information.

 ** _Public archive basement. Wed. 9pm._**

Keeping this information to himself, he tuned back into what his brother was saying to him.

"…there's only one reason why he would be avoiding looking into the clan. He suspects us… but that got me thinking more. All of us love the old man. Even Yuri has a soft spot for him."

Sasuke allowed him to continue- to come to the same conclusion he had all those days ago.

"Aki, Yuri and I don't have the ability over chakara to do those kind of attacks. Mother doesn't have lightening nature chakara. I sometimes think that you love the old man Hokage better than your own family sometimes; you could probably kill anyone in the world without thinking twice, Sasuke, anyone except for the Hokage.

"Then there's Father. He has a major grudge against the old man but the Hokage seems to still have a soft spot for him. He was trained in ninjutsu by Kakashi Hatake and the old man; I'm positive he knows how to do both rasengan and chidori. The only thing that clears his name is an interrogation that we can't find the notes on anywhere."

Sasuke closed his eyes and deactivated his bloodline limit.

"Sasuke… I think our father tried to kill the Hokage."

"Hn."

* * *

 _Sasuke continued towards the room he had witnessed his first set of parents be murdered by his brother. On his way, he noticed the prone bodies of Yuriko and Seiji. His sister had long since passed but in a new twist in the dream world, Seiji was not quite dead yet. Noticing the elder teen trying to tell him something, Sasuke put his ear next to his mouth._

 _"You have to stop him, Sasuke, you have to-"_

 _Sasuke shushed his brother and told him he would be avenged. Seiji smiled and watched as Sasuke continued down the hallway. Soon… soon everything would be taken care of._

 _The whispering of the Name rose to cries and Sasuke could no longer hear his brother's desperate breaths._

* * *

Despite Seiji reaffirming his belief, Sasuke didn't tell him about the note he had seen in their father's office. His brother had put himself in enough danger and while Sasuke was grateful, he didn't want to put his family in more danger than necessary.

It was for this reason that on Wednesday, Sasuke made his way on his own to the public archives and, after evading the pathetically weak security, reached the basement of said building.

He was not expecting to see what he found there.

Perched on the topside of some ventilation tunnels, sharingan activated, Sasuke saw tens upon tens of people stuffed into the surprisingly large room. There was a makeshift stage set up to one side of the room and upon it was stood one of the last people he expected to see.

Suddenly, a hand forcefully covered his mouth and he was pulled back slightly. Straining his eyes to look around at his assailant, he was met with the deep red of his father's sharingan.

Sasuke let his confusion wash over him as his father asked him what he was doing in that room using ANBU sign language.

 _"I saw the note in your office."_ Sasuke hastily replied.

 _"So you're the one that was snooping around my office. Hn. I thought it was one of the vice-chief's men."_

 _"The vice-chief?"_ Sasuke raised one of his eyebrows.

Itachi gestured to the far left-hand corner of the stage. Sure enough, the man behind Sasuke's interrogation was stood, looking rather smug.

 _"But what- I thought-"_

 _"Shhh! They're starting."_ His father gestured.

* * *

 _Sasuke slowly opened the door to the room he knew he would find his best friend dead in. Like always when he came in, his father was crouched over the body, blood on his hands. The man stood and turned around, eyes burning red with the cursed bloodline limit of their family. Sasuke closed his eyes' he had failed Naruto again. He didn't deserve to live._

 _"Sasuke!" His father's voice cried._

 _Blood poured from Sasuke's mouth as a blade slid into his back. He opened his mouth to see his father running towards him. Surprised, Sasuke's legs buckled underneath him as he turned to look at the one that had stabbed him._

* * *

The vice-chief of Konoha's police department took the centre of the stage and waited for the applause that had started after his name was announced to end.

"Brothers, Sisters," he began, "The time for non-chakara wielding civilians is coming. Soon, we shall no-longer be viewed as second class citizens in this village. We will take our rightful place as the leaders of this village! The tyranny of the ninja government must end!

"There are those that would stop us. Those that would say that a roof collapsing on our sleeping children is unavoidable because sometimes Ninja make mistakes. For years, we have tried to go about this peaceably, but at every point we have been turned around, ignored or even laughed at. I say enough!

"We have the support of the police, the merchants, even members of some of the most prominent clans have pledged to help us in our plight!"

The man paused for dramatic effect.

"We have the people, we have the power and, most importantly, we have the vision. A village government ran by a council with each group of residents having a representative. The only thing standing in our way is the current regime. A regime that, for our children's sakes, we must destroy."

There was a murmur of voices throughout the room. Some people shifted in an uncomfortable manner but no one left. Itachi and Sasuke kept their eyes trained on the speaker.

"It will not be easy. The Hokage has the majority of the clan's support and the older generations still remember him as a war hero. He was saved after the latest attempt on his life by the Uchiha clan and the Haruno family. To get to the Hokage, we must first remove those closest to him.

"Thankfully, this process is already in place thanks to a young man that will even put aside his own family to ensure that his fellow villagers will suffer no more! Everyone, I want you all to give a warm welcome to one of my most trusted affiliates and one of the great minds behind the plan to remove the current Hokage. Please give a round of applause for Seiji Uchiha!"

Sasuke watched as his brother, the one that he had spent so much time with over the past couple of days with, the one he never would have suspected to be part in a plot on his beast friend's life walked to the front of the stage. The elder teen was smiling warmly at the crowd before him with the same smile he would flash at Sasuke when they were sharing a joke.

Sasuke felt sick.

* * *

 _His brother still had that smile of his in place as he watched his little brother fall. Though the teen had never activated his sharingan, somehow the coolness of his dark eyes glinting in the moonlight made him look all the more sinister. Itachi caught him before he fell to the floor and the last thing Sasuke saw before the darkness took him was the lifeless and yet endless blue of his best friend's eyes._

* * *

 **And so ends the 13th chapter. Honestly, I was planning on dragging this out farther... I haven't really explored Seiji's character properly and I feel that this reveal won't have as big as an effect as it would have had if I had done the job properly. I might go back and add some stuff later on down the line.**

 **All shall be explained in the next chapter. Don't expect Sasuke to take the revelation that his trusted big brother is a traitor. You saw what happened last time he thought that. :P**

 **Please review. :3**


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